-firebetweengovernmentandrebel forces.o >> there are many other organizations that do medical care and food provisions. never enough. what is new here is civilians protecting civilians. >> ifill: itn's john sparks reports on police officers in china, and their accusations of widespread corruption by local officials. and jeffrey brown samples the poetry about greece's financial woes and its austerity measures. >> we'll hock the person to buy our bread. if you believe the headlines, then we're sunk. greece downgraded deeper into junk. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour.n >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: much

" to postponeagovernmentdefault.thegovernmentison track to hit its borrowing limit on monday, he said with no prospect of congressional action to raise the limit. here now to help us unravel what's going on is todd zwillich. he's washington correspondent for "the takeaway" on public radio international. todd, welcome back. decode this for us. are the players privately as bleak about the prospects as their public statement suggests? >> not as bleak, margaret, but bleaker than they were even a week ago and that's not terribly encouraging. the president as you reported is flying back to washington last night and some members of congress are coming back earlier than others. there will be some meetings here, there have to be some meetings between the principals and the president. there are a couple of options in the last couple of days even though it seems like five days is terribly, terribly short. there shall bills floating out there to keep tax rates where they're at for people making $250,000 and below. that could slide around. there's a senate bill that floats around. there's the pres